Judge's dismissal of Trump docs case not final as long court fight looms

A judge's stunning decision to dismiss the classified documents case against Donald Trump brought an abrupt halt to what experts have considered the strongest and most straightforward of the prosecutions of the former president. But it's hardly the final word.

Special counsel Jack Smith's appeal of US District Judge Aileen Cannon's order is expected to tee up a court fight that might reach the US Supreme Court and could result in the reinstatement of the indictment and even conceivably the reassignment of the case to a different judge.

There's no scenario in which a revived prosecution could reach trial before the November election and it presumably won't take place at all in the event Trump is elected president and orders his Justice Department to dismiss it. Still, Cannon's order ensures many more months of legal wrangling in a criminal case that became snarled over the last year by interminable delays.

The only good thing about this is that it is finally a decision, said Nancy .